Sedentary Disease

I read this article the other day. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/sedentary-lifestyle-hazards

It’s about the sitting disease. Okay, that’s not a real disease. It’s a mental condition… maybe. But, really, it’s just a bad habit. A really, really, really bad habit. But it is my life.

Ten years ago I was glad if I could sit for an hour in my day. And that hour was usually broken up into quarters between tours and armor presentations and setting up 12 foot tables with record breaking swiftness. I had a very bustling day. Then… I might get home by 7 or 8 at night and watch some television. I was too poor to afford cable, so there was little to tempt me. Plus, I was home too little to bother with it anyway. So I didn’t watch a lot of television. And I didn’t have a personal computer. So, really, a huge chunk of my day was moving around with little compulsion to rest in a chair.

Now. Oh God. Now I’m at a desk for eight hours. Behind a computer. Sometimes I go home and run for an hour. But then I either go back to the computer or I watch television. Yup. That’s probably twelve hours of sitting right there. Maybe 20 minutes on my feet to cook dinner. If I get a burst of organizational freakishness, I might spend 30 minutes cleaning. But, really, I spend most of my day in a chair.

Great.

So… what’s that about letting go of habits that don’t work? Yeah. Let’s see. Well, obviously I can’t change my job too much. But there are ways of adding a few extra steps and minutes away from this blue screen. I can still run at home. But… I think, I KNOW, it’s time to up the ante on that. In a way without fail. A way that will make me happy… and stop me from just talking about doing something and finally just do it.

I’m going to get a dog. Yup. Yup. Yup. Dogs don’t let you sit all day long. No, they do not. And if you ignore them, they pee on your carpet. Accountability.

Obviously, there are benefits to that above and beyond the mobility factor. I’ve wanted a dog for so long. But I was never home enough. Now I’m home too much. And I think … I know it’s about barking time.